Five days in California
So on Monday I got up at O god o’clock to get to the airport with plenty of time to make it through security. Apparently the “liquids” baggy has to be a ziplock-style sealable and not just any clear plastic bag. I don’t understand this, but none the less I went in search of one and found it at the ticket counter. I made it through the second time.
The flight was uneventful, I mostly read and got progressively hungrier. By the time I arrived in Oakland I was quite tired, having traveled for over 12 hours without food. Draconicmist and her friend Mia greeted me there, and we went out to eat and hang out some. I picked up Hellsing #8. I perked up, lost the glazed look in my eyes after eating and resolved that I’d have something to snack on when I returned to the Midwest.
That night I had dinner with Draconicmist’s family. I went to bed relatively early.
The next day we went to Calaveras state park to see the massive redwoods, as this is the time of year when men’s minds turn to wood. They were big. I’ll see if I can upload the pictures to my Photobucket account. We walked around in more snow than I’ve seen here all winter and tried to avoid liliputians. Admittedly, the size of these trees did not make much of an impression on me, though the activities of the entrepreneurs trying to make money off of them did. They cut down and sliced up the first one they found and de-barked another, which is like skinning an animal alive, to send to other places to promote tourism. When that lagged, partially due to public protest over their treatment of the threes, they put a road through another. That one appears to have one branch that still has needles on it. You go, little branch! Live!
On the way back we got a flat tires, so Clayton, draconicmist’s father, and I went to change it when a random road worker stopped by and offered to do it for up. Then we went back to the house and had steamed artichokes. They didn’t taste like much, but the pesto sauce was tasty.
The next morning I woke up and made chocolate chip scones for draconicmist and I to eat, then we went to the airport.
First time I went through security, they told me that I couldn’t have the pocket knives and tools that I’d forgotten were in my backpack. So I grabbed an envelope from the nearest store and mailed them to myself. The second time I was informed that I could only have 3.4 ounce containers, so I’d have to empty my 4 ounce flask of water. The third time I made it through. The highlight of the flight to San Diego was riding in a plane that had propellers. It was nifty.
I met up with frausensei, went back to her place to find her husbandman Erik, and then met up with Alaina at the restaurant. We ate, walked out on a pier, and then dispersed for bed after Alaina and I exchanged numbers so we can hang out the next day.
The next day I accompanied frausensei to her work, from which I went to Balboa park, arriving at the tram information center as it opened at eight. Nothing else would be open for another hour and a half, so I sat down in the garden at “Inspiration Point” and wrote until things started opening. Then I found out that the guide I had didn’t tell you if there was an admission fee to the museums. I went to the visitor center to ask about this, and she produced a different guide, the one from the park and not the tram which ran through the park, which did have the admissions fees listed. I went into two museums, a free Timkins art museum and the non-free Museum of Man. I learned some interesting things about Mayan mythology, like the fact that they have a world-tree much like the Norse. Then I met up with Alaina and we went to “Old Town”, which is a recreation of the original town of San Diego, made into a series of shops. We talked with a woman about old ways of making clothes and wandered around until frausensei called me. Alaina left to prepare for class, and frausensei and I went out to Cabrillo national monument. I took some pictures and ate. Then we went back to their apartment (Edit:after picking a few things at a grocery store where a cashier mistakenly referred to me by frausensei's last name/Edit) and I made lemon mustard chicken, which was tasty despite my general dislike of mustard. We then played a Japanese card game until we went to bed.
The next day I went for a walk on the University of San Diego campus, also called the University of Spoiled Daughters, because a lot of rich people send their children there, and the population’s primarily female. I shot some photographs, wrote a bunch and observed that the stereotype seemed accurate. At about quarter to eleven I walked back to the apartment, and Erik drove me to the airport. I made it through security on the first pass, and the flight to O’Hare was pretty dull aside from being delayed for de-icing. I munched on the snacks I’d bought.
My connecting flight was not as smooth though. The preceding flight at the same gate was delayed again and again, so eventually they delayed my flight and finally switched it to another gate entirely. After being delayed 20 minutes we finally got on, only to find out that they’d misplaced our luggage. We sat and waited, and a few more people got on. It was another half hour at least before we even disengaged from the gate. Then there was ten minutes of de-icing. Then the plane’s engines stalled once we were pushed away from the gate. The flight itself was mercifully fast, but I was so tired that I could barely concentrate on anything but my want to go to bed. The woman across the isle let me go first as she said “You look as tired as I feel.”. I thanked her. It was midnight when we got in. We were supposed to have arrived at 10:30. I was not pleased. My parents were waiting at the baggage claims area.
Edit: I am very grateful to draconicmist, her family, frausensei and Erik for putting up with me, and to Alaina for accompanying me on Thursday. /Edit.
So now I’m out on the farm, and will likely be staying here a couple of days.
The flight was uneventful, I mostly read and got progressively hungrier. By the time I arrived in Oakland I was quite tired, having traveled for over 12 hours without food. Draconicmist and her friend Mia greeted me there, and we went out to eat and hang out some. I picked up Hellsing #8. I perked up, lost the glazed look in my eyes after eating and resolved that I’d have something to snack on when I returned to the Midwest.
That night I had dinner with Draconicmist’s family. I went to bed relatively early.
The next day we went to Calaveras state park to see the massive redwoods, as this is the time of year when men’s minds turn to wood. They were big. I’ll see if I can upload the pictures to my Photobucket account. We walked around in more snow than I’ve seen here all winter and tried to avoid liliputians. Admittedly, the size of these trees did not make much of an impression on me, though the activities of the entrepreneurs trying to make money off of them did. They cut down and sliced up the first one they found and de-barked another, which is like skinning an animal alive, to send to other places to promote tourism. When that lagged, partially due to public protest over their treatment of the threes, they put a road through another. That one appears to have one branch that still has needles on it. You go, little branch! Live!
On the way back we got a flat tires, so Clayton, draconicmist’s father, and I went to change it when a random road worker stopped by and offered to do it for up. Then we went back to the house and had steamed artichokes. They didn’t taste like much, but the pesto sauce was tasty.
The next morning I woke up and made chocolate chip scones for draconicmist and I to eat, then we went to the airport.
First time I went through security, they told me that I couldn’t have the pocket knives and tools that I’d forgotten were in my backpack. So I grabbed an envelope from the nearest store and mailed them to myself. The second time I was informed that I could only have 3.4 ounce containers, so I’d have to empty my 4 ounce flask of water. The third time I made it through. The highlight of the flight to San Diego was riding in a plane that had propellers. It was nifty.
I met up with frausensei, went back to her place to find her husbandman Erik, and then met up with Alaina at the restaurant. We ate, walked out on a pier, and then dispersed for bed after Alaina and I exchanged numbers so we can hang out the next day.
The next day I accompanied frausensei to her work, from which I went to Balboa park, arriving at the tram information center as it opened at eight. Nothing else would be open for another hour and a half, so I sat down in the garden at “Inspiration Point” and wrote until things started opening. Then I found out that the guide I had didn’t tell you if there was an admission fee to the museums. I went to the visitor center to ask about this, and she produced a different guide, the one from the park and not the tram which ran through the park, which did have the admissions fees listed. I went into two museums, a free Timkins art museum and the non-free Museum of Man. I learned some interesting things about Mayan mythology, like the fact that they have a world-tree much like the Norse. Then I met up with Alaina and we went to “Old Town”, which is a recreation of the original town of San Diego, made into a series of shops. We talked with a woman about old ways of making clothes and wandered around until frausensei called me. Alaina left to prepare for class, and frausensei and I went out to Cabrillo national monument. I took some pictures and ate. Then we went back to their apartment (Edit:after picking a few things at a grocery store where a cashier mistakenly referred to me by frausensei's last name/Edit) and I made lemon mustard chicken, which was tasty despite my general dislike of mustard. We then played a Japanese card game until we went to bed.
The next day I went for a walk on the University of San Diego campus, also called the University of Spoiled Daughters, because a lot of rich people send their children there, and the population’s primarily female. I shot some photographs, wrote a bunch and observed that the stereotype seemed accurate. At about quarter to eleven I walked back to the apartment, and Erik drove me to the airport. I made it through security on the first pass, and the flight to O’Hare was pretty dull aside from being delayed for de-icing. I munched on the snacks I’d bought.
My connecting flight was not as smooth though. The preceding flight at the same gate was delayed again and again, so eventually they delayed my flight and finally switched it to another gate entirely. After being delayed 20 minutes we finally got on, only to find out that they’d misplaced our luggage. We sat and waited, and a few more people got on. It was another half hour at least before we even disengaged from the gate. Then there was ten minutes of de-icing. Then the plane’s engines stalled once we were pushed away from the gate. The flight itself was mercifully fast, but I was so tired that I could barely concentrate on anything but my want to go to bed. The woman across the isle let me go first as she said “You look as tired as I feel.”. I thanked her. It was midnight when we got in. We were supposed to have arrived at 10:30. I was not pleased. My parents were waiting at the baggage claims area.
Edit: I am very grateful to draconicmist, her family, frausensei and Erik for putting up with me, and to Alaina for accompanying me on Thursday. /Edit.
So now I’m out on the farm, and will likely be staying here a couple of days.